I want to start off by reminding people of the reason that I've been writing blogs. Too much has been said in the media about Liverpool being a good team, even mentioning them in the same breath as the great United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City teams. I wrote this blog in particular to debunk that theory because its absolutely false. More importantly, I've been writing about Liverpool in particular because in the annals of history, people mustn't look back at the garbage that the media and their fans have been saying about them and fawning over them when in any other era they'd just be a upper middle table team. If I don't speak the truth now then future generations will be misguided when reading about this footballing era. I'm not doing it for you and I, I'm doing it so that our children and their children will know the truth about where Liverpool's achievements rank.
Liverpool won the season by 18 points which in any other season might seem like a great achievement. I'm not saying that they wouldn't have won the league, however, the gap to City should have been a lot smaller and if things had happened fairly then Liverpool would have been a lot closer to Manchester City, however, diving, luck, VAR and refereeing decisions have played their part in Liverpool being so far ahead but we'll delve into that later.
Worst Premier League season since inception
This season was the easiest and worst Premier League season since its inception in 1992. The quality across the league has been poor and more so amongst the top teams. Arsenal and Manchester United have endured their worst period since the inception of the Premier League, Chelsea are in their worst period since Roman Abramovich took over, Tottenham went from the club that deserved to win the Champions League (as their opponents scored a lucky penalty that shouldn't have been a penalty and then parked the bus) to relegation form in the last calendar year and even Manchester City have had their worst season in recent years after they were blighted by injuries and failed to sign a backup for the outgoing Vincent Kompany. So understandably, Liverpool with their half decent team (I say half decent because that's all they would have been in any other era) won the league comfortably with the help of diving, luck, VAR and refereeing decisions. If any of the other top sides had a half decent team or were not rebuilding they would have been right up there with them and Liverpool can thank their lucky stars that none were.
Staying on the topic of the league being the weakest. Every Liverpool fan is singing and dancing about how great a defender Virgil Van Dijk is. The truth is that Van Dijk is a good defender but he wouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as any of the other great defenders we've seen over the years. Van Dijk is only talked about as being great because there are not many other top central defenders in the world currently let alone in the Premier League. Never since I've been watching football in the 90's has there been such a dearth of good, let alone great centre backs. If you look at Bould, Adams, Keown, Campbell, Carvalho, Terry, Stam, Vidic, Ferdinand, Bruce, Pallister and Hyypia as examples, if I had to rate Van Dijk I'd put him between say a Titus Bramble and a Ledley King. Probably in the same bracket as a Koscielny. Good player on his day but not amongst the best in the league.
What might be worse than not having enough good centre backs in the Premier League is the fact that there's even fewer good strikers. Jamie Vardy winning the Golden boot at 33 years of age should say a lot and so is Danny Ings finishing among the top 3 scorers. Kun Aguero is the only World Class striker left and he's already 32. Thierry Henry, Bergkamp, Drogba, Cantona, Van Nistelrooy, Shearer, Van Persie, Zola, Owen, Fowler, Suarez and Andy Cole are just few of a number of great strikers thatVan Dijk hasn't had to contend with.
Long Balls and Defensive Tactics
This is something that I've mentioned in one of my previous blogs. Liverpool have been by and large a defensive team this season. They played anti-football in the Champions League final the season before and continued with their defensive tactics from where they left off last season. Now there's nothing wrong with being a defensive team, defensive teams have been successful throughout history but their fans shouldn't make it seem as if they have been playing teams off the park week in week out. It couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, they have tried to mask it by inventing new terminology like 'vertical balls.' Everyone knows what a long ball is yet Liverpool fans have renamed it as a 'vertical ball' and claim that Klopp is a genius for using 'vertical balls' as a tactic. If Klopp is a genius then so is Big Sam and Tony Pulis.
Jordan Henderson being named as player of the season
Jordan Henderson being named the Football Writers Player of the season has devalued the award and made it into a popularity contest. No doubt that Henderson has done great work in getting all the Premier League clubs together to donate to the NHS for their sterling work with dealing with Covid-19 but how much of good work you do outside of football shouldn't be the criteria for winning a football award. If that's the case then Juan Mata with his 'Common Goal' charity should have won it years ago and Marcus Rashford should win it next season for helping feed school children during school holidays. Everyone knows about the great charity work that Mesut Ozil does and how many operations he has paid for children that were sick yet he hasn't won the award. Kevin De Bruyne was head and shoulders above anyone else in the league this season but even if you want to look within the Liverpool team there are far more deserving candidates that had much better seasons than Henderson, Sadio Mané being the obvious choice. To be honest he wasn't even their best midfielder last season let alone the best player at Liverpool or in the league. It would have been more appropriate for Henderson to win BBC Sports Personality of the year.
One thing that I must admit is that Henderson has been a far better captain than Steven Gerrard. Gerrard bottled the league and cost Brendan Rodgers his job. In that sense he has proven that he is a lot stronger mentally than Gerrard and even if he wasn't truly the player of the season, he should be commended for that.
You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone is trending on many Liverpool fans social media accounts at the moment. You'll even see it in people bios. It is the ethos that all Liverpool fans say that they stand by, however, You'll Never Walk Alone has a disclaimer.
YNWA, unless you are Lovren, Karius, Lallana etc. Funnily enough Jordan Henderson wasn't part of the YNWA brigade for a long time but now that he's improved a bit he's not walking alone.
The worst abuse of Liverpool fans on one of their players after the Karius performance in the Champions League final was against Sepp Van Den Berg after his performance against Arsenal in a game that ended 5-5. Still only 17 years old and having not had much first team experience, he was subjected to some sickening and vile abuse on social media by a lot of the YNWA mob for his performance. LFC fans saying that he's not good enough for the club despite still only being 17. Give the kid a break, no matter how bad it was he didn't deserve to be subjected to abuse like that especially from his own fans.
Another incident showing the loyalty that Liverpool fans have had towards their players was Adrian getting berated on social media after their Champions League loss to Atletico Madrid at Anfield. No doubt he made some big errors but YNWA didn't apply to Adrian. This is the same Adrian that won them the mighty Super Cup on penalties yet he still faces insults to this day.
Roll back 2 years to Karius who I mentioned above. Karius wasn't consoled by his teammates after the final whistle and despite these claims of YNWA, he was literally walking alone after the final whistle.
Please don’t be fooled when people say YNWA because it's an exclusive group of people that are not walking alone, the rest are.
VAR
It was a running joke throughout the season about how Liverpool have been favoured by VAR and refereeing decisions this season, the Mané dive against Leicester at the end of the game is one of the many that stand out but the biggest of them all was in the early title decider against Manchester City at Anfield. If City had won the match they would have still been in the title race and a loss would have all but put them put out. Trent Alexander-Arnold clearly handed the ball in his own box and no handball is given, Liverpool go to the other end of the field and score a goal, the decision is checked by VAR and to everyone's surprise and bemusement the goal stood. The rest is history and Liverpool won the league although we'll never know what would have happened had the correct decision been made and a penalty to City been awarded. In a season of many fortunes, this was Liverpool's most fortunate moment.
Trying to furlough staff
Liverpool had announced that they would furlough some of their non-playing staff. The decision was quickly reversed a few days later amid mounting criticism. It is worth noting that there were quite a few major organisations that also furloughed staff, however, nobody expected a football club that made over £150m in profit over the past 2 years to utilise a fund that smaller businesses desperately needed. Some reports had estimated that the club would be saving around £500k a month, others around £800k a month and while we'll never know the true figure, the joke of it was that it came in the same week that Jordan Henderson was trying to get all the Premier League clubs together to raise funds for the NHS. What was even funnier was that not even a few months later, Liverpool repeatedly splurged £1m pounds on their title celebration that included fitting a podium where players would lift the trophy from. Some media outlets claimed that the players were consulted on this.
This isn't the first time that Liverpool under FSG have pulled something like this. Here are just some of the claims that have been made against them over the course of their tenure.
- Wanting clubs to negotiate overseas broadcasting rights individually that would have threatened broadcasting revenue for smaller clubs. The Premier League has thrived with money being spread more evenly amongst all clubs yet Liverpool seemed to only worry about themselves even at the expense of smaller clubs.
- Tapping up of Virgil Van Dijk which they had to offer an apology for, funnily enough their fans complained when it seemed that Barcelona had done the same thing to Phil Coutinho.
- Liverpool Football Club making an application to have the word Liverpool trademarked. The word Liverpool should belong to the people of Liverpool, not owned by a club to increase profits.
Liverpool have claimed the principles of Bill Shankly are the club’s guiding light and FSG are lauded as fantastic owners but the moves they've pulled over the years don't seem to have been in the best interests of football as a whole but seem to be more as a way of earning extra revenue or having their own way. The socialist, working class roots of the city don't seem to resonate with the owners of the club.
Celebrations and need for validation
Liverpool's celebration of the Super Cup was amusing as the Super Cup is the Community Shield of Europe. Never have we seen a team celebrate the Super Cup like a team that won the World Cup. As a fan you'd feel a bit embarrassed seeing your team celebrate such an insignificant trophy the way that they did.
It was similar to their World Club Cup win which is not a trophy that anyone will measure success by.
The worst and most laughable was when they showcased last season’s Champions League trophy with their Super Cup and World Club Cup trophies the day that they lifted the league title. I'm still laughing as I write this. Who celebrates this season’s league win with last season’s Champions League trophy? You'd expect this behavior from a small club, not Liverpool, but it goes to show how far they've fallen and what has become acceptable to them and their fans.
Throughout the season we've seen a constant need from their fans to have the validation of fans from other clubs. During the season I was told by a Liverpool fan that I should give them a 'pat on the back' and after they won the league many of their fans asked me where their 'congratulations' is?
Why do they need my congratulations and pat on the back? Aren't they comfortable that they won the league and don't need anyone else's validation? Clearly not.
Even when the players went to lift the trophy James Milner was caught saying on stage "First time I ever wanted a red ribbon. It’s always been United before. "F***ing w****rs"'. Even during one of the most important moments in your entire life, you can't just enjoy it. You are worrying about another club that is doing far worse than you. The fact that they are getting no validation (within reason as we've mentioned diving, luck, VAR and refereeing decisions) eats them up. Bernado Silva not clapping them when Manchester City gave them a guard of honour after they won the league left their fans incensed.
Even after the title was won their fans were poking their nose in Manchester United's league run in and Manchester City's Champions League games. Why don't Liverpool fans feel content with what they've won? They would rather watch other people's failures than enjoy their own success which says a lot about them.
Arrogance
After Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Burnley, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold launched a foul mouthed tirade against match officials that were picked up by pitch side microphones. Here is an excerpt of the incident from the Metro:
With no fans in the stadium, BT Sport’s pitch-side microphones were able to pick up every word of the exchange with both players seething with the decision and turning the air blue as they let Coote know all about it.
How that’s not a penalty on me… What’s the point in having it [VAR]? What is the point in having you?’ said a furious Robertson.
‘Wait until you see it. Wait until you go in and see that and you’ll go, “How the f*** is that not a penalty?”’
When the linesman suggested the challenge was outside the box, Robertson seemed to get even more irritated, continuing: ‘Yous didn’t see f***ing anything. Yous didn’t see anything the whole game apart from f***ing booking him in the last minute.’
Robertson started to walk towards the tunnel but couldn’t let it lie, continuing: ‘F*** me. What’s the point of having yous in the middle? What’s the point of having you? Eh? F*** me, honestly.’
Alexander-Arnold was just as annoyed, saying to the officials: ‘How the fuck was that not a foul on [Robertson] by the way? F*** me. If it’s not a penalty it’s a f***ing foul then. The contact echoed around the f***ing stadium!’
Source:
As mentioned in one of my previous blogs, when Liverpool do it then it's called 'passion' but when other clubs do it, it leads to suspension. Imagine the sanction had this been said by Jose Mourinho. There was no apology and unsurprisingly as it was Liverpool players involved there was no sanction either that once again proves that there are a different set of rules for Liverpool and a different set of rules for everyone else.
Things became heated when Chelsea played Liverpool towards the end of the season. Sadio Mané went down without much contact and Liverpool were incorrectly awarded a free kick. Frank Lampard then questioned the decision before Liverpool staff members got involved. Here is an excerpt from a Talksport article:
While pointing at Lijnders, Lampard said: “It’s not a f****** foul, I’m
not asking you.'”
A loud ‘hey’ is heard as Lampard replies with ‘f*** off, you, as well’
to someone from the Liverpool coaching staff.
The argument ends when the ex-Derby boss bellows: “Only title you’ve
ever won and you’re f***ing giving it the big un, f *** off!”
Followed by his comments after the game:
He told Sky Sports: “For me, it
wasn’t a foul from Kovacic, and there were a lot of things that weren’t going
our way.
“But I’ve not got a problem with Jurgen Klopp. The way he’s managed this
team has been fantastic.
“Fair play to Liverpool Football Club, they’ve won the league, but also
don’t get too arrogant with it.
“That was my point, but it’s done. In match play, you can get emotional
and that was it.”
Source: https://talksport.com/football/736804/chelsea-frank-lampard-liverpool-jurgen-klopp-row/
Two things stand out from the incident. Firstly, Klopp seemed very scared of Lampard and went into his shell by telling Lampard to "calm down". Secondly, Liverpool have become an arrogant team after winning one league title! It's clear what a little bit of perceived success can do and this is why they are hated by so many people.
Conclusion
To end
off, I want to speak about the title of this blog and after reading through
everything that I've said, people must be wondering why I feel sorry for
Liverpool fans. The reason is because their fans are deluded enough to say
things like "they should build a statue of Klopp at Anfield" and
"Klopp is better than Fergie." All things that are laughable. One
league title didn't make Blackburn and Leicester start behaving this way and
what's even funnier is their fans saying things like "Klopp would have
gotten on so well with Shankley and Paisley." I don't claim to know
Shankley or Paisley but I wonder how they would have felt seeing Klopp dance
the way he did when they celebrated the day that they won the league. As a
rival fan I cringe when I see Klopp behaving like that. I don't think too many
people back then would be impressed with the way he carries himself as a
manager of a football club.
The truth is that Liverpool had the opportunity to achieve many things this season. They could have been Treble winners, Invincibles, Double winners, won a domestic trophy or Centurions but they didn't end up with anything else that's notable other than the league title despite having the title wrapped up so early. They couldn't even beat Chelsea's record of conceding 15 goals in a league season despite being a defensively built team.
It's safe
to say that there's nothing special about this Liverpool team. Leicester City
winning the league was a much more special achievement than this yet their
fans didn't behave the way that this bunch are.
